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Hemed is one of two Israelis on the roster of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. — which competes in the English Football League Championship. The other is 28-year-old central midfielder Beram Kayal, a member of Israel’s Arab minority. Both are also on Israel’s national team.

“We’re good friends, our wives are close and our children are growing up together,” Kayal said. “We hang out a lot and some call us ‘the Israeli mafia.’”

“Politics doesn’t interest me,” he went on to say. “In my view, Tomer and I are the best example that a Muslim Arab and a Jew can grow up together with the same values and language, be friends and send a positive message to all. There are many here [in England] who don’t understand how we all cooperate on the Israeli national team and don’t know anything about our history — that there are [Muslims], as well as Christians, in Israel, and we all live together as good neighbors.”

In December, as reported by The Algemeiner, Israeli soccer player Almog Cohen — a midfielder for FC Ingolstadt — lifted up his jersey during a post-goal celebration to reveal a shirt underneath, bearing the Hebrew words, “Hashem hu ha-elokim” (Hashem is the one God).